


Pneumonia

by emetoandotherthings



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Graphic Depictions of Illness, Illnesses, Pneumonia, Sick Character, Sickfic, Vomiting, emeto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-10 08:00:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19902412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emetoandotherthings/pseuds/emetoandotherthings
Summary: Prompt: A chest infection that turns out to be walking pneumonia (Bonus points if the sick character is in total denial)Warning: Includes Vomiting





	Pneumonia

“Did you manage to get any sleep last night?” Jude watched as Eden shuffled into the tiny kitchen and flicked the switch on their kettle; he was dressed but looked absolutely exhausted. His face was pale and wan, for most of the night Jude had heard him coughing, loudly enough to be heard in his bedroom which was across the other side of the hallway.

“I got a bit.” He replied, pouring water into his mug and fishing the teabag out, to Jude’s surprise Eden didn’t add any milk, as he usually did, but instead spooned in a heaped teaspoon of sugar. In the quiet Jude could hear a soft wheeze as Eden inhaled; he was just about to take a sip of his tea when he descended into a coughing fit. Jude winced as the hacking cough gripped Eden, who covered his mouth with one hand and held his chest with the other. He struggled to regain his breath, and Jude heard him cough something up; Eden spat into the sink, turning the tap on to wash it away. “Sorry.”

“I really think you should go back to the doctors about that cough,” Jude suggested; it had taken Jude a week and a half to convince Eden that his cough wasn’t just an ordinary cold and to go to the doctors in the first place.

“I’ve still got three days of antibiotics left,” Eden shook his head, opening one of the cupboards and taking out the said antibiotics, he pushed a capsule out onto the counter. “If it’s not getting better by then I’ll go back.” He popped the pill into his mouth and swigged it down with his tea, making a face at the taste. Jude sighed, knowing that there was no point in arguing. 

“Why are you not taking milk?” He asked, changing the conversation while checking his watch, they’d both have to leave soon if they didn’t want to be late.

“I think it’s making my cough worse,” Eden explained; he was clutching at his chest, the amount of coughing he was doing making his muscles ache. “I thought I’d avoid it until I finish the tablets.” Jude drained his cup of coffee as Eden descended into another coughing fit. 

“Are you sure you should be going in today Eden?” Jude wasn’t able to stop the worry from permeating his voice. “Maybe you should stay home and rest, let the antibiotics do their job?”

“I’m not going to stay for labs,” Eden said, “but I want to go to this morning’s lecture.”

“Couldn’t you just get Eppie to take notes for you?” he pushed further, Eden’s decision not to go to labs showed that he must understand that he needed some rest. 

“I’m going,” Eden stated firmly and Jude shrugged his shoulders in resignation.   
It was only two and a half hours, then Eden would be able to come home and try and sleep, although every time he had lain down last night he’d felt like his lungs had been closing up, suffocating him. Which was probably why his entire body was heavy with tiredness.

“Well at least have something for breakfast,” Jude insisted, grabbing a cereal bar and shoving it into Eden’s pocket as he picked up his bag and get ready to leave. Eden allowed Jude to force the food on him, even though his stomach turned at the thought of eating. 

The walk to campus only took about ten minutes, but several times in that journey Eden descended into fits of coughing. Even when he wasn’t coughing, Eden’s breathing was much harsher and heavier than normal. Whoever sat next to Eden in his lecture was going to have to put up with that. Jude bid farewell to Eden at the edge of the science block, where Eden headed into the lecture hall, hoping that he could find a seat near the back. 

Eppie was already in the auditorium, sitting three-quarters of the way back, and she waved at Eden as he entered the room. He began climbing the stairs which rose into rows, but even after just three steps Eden felt like he couldn’t bring in enough oxygen. He put his head down as he forced himself to keep going, his chest tightening, until he reached the seat next to Eppie. He tried to hide his breathlessness as he sat down next to her, but she took one look at him and announced:

“You’re an idiot.” Eden frowned up at her, he honestly was too exhausted to deal with any conflict. 

“Why am I an idiot?” He wheezed, trying to clear the tickling sensation at the back of his throat. 

“For coming to lectures today.” She said, “You actually look like a corpse, no offence, but you do.”

“It’s kind of hard not to take offence at that.” Eden pointed out, “I’m not staying for labs.”

“Good,” she whispered as the lecturer stood up at the front of the hall and a silence fell over the students. 

The lecture was torture. Eden’s dislike of drawing attention to himself meant he repeatedly held back the need to cough, a painful lump formed in his throat and forced tears into his eyes. He tried to hold it back by quietly clearing his throat or taking a drink out of his water bottle, but neither of these methods were successful. His head felt foggy as he tired to take notes, and in repressing the urge to cough he began to feel light headed. Even when he finally gave up trying to hold it in, it felt like iron bands had been fastened to his ribs, not allowing him to take an adequate breath. Perhaps Jude had been right – he should have stayed at home because he hadn’t been able to concentrate on the lecture at all. He was utterly relieved when the lecturer dismissed them and began to pack up his things. 

“Will you put in my apologies for missing labs?” Eden turned to Eppie, she rolled her eyes.

“God yes, I’ll just show them a photo of you and they’ll know why you’re not there,” she joked, loading her notebook and textbook into her bag.

“Thanks,” he mumbled, standing up and clutching his chest as a sharp pain shot through it. 

“Are you alright to go home on your own?” Eppie asked nervously as they joined the queue of students filtering out of the lecture hall. 

“Yeah,” Eden began, but fell into another coughing fit that had those standing in front of him moving out of the way. “I’m just going home to sleep.” 

“Alright,” Eppie agreed, but she didn’t look convinced. “Will you let me know when you get home?” 

“Course.”

It was only when Eden was back at his flat, standing in the middle of the living room with no recollection of the journey that he wondered whether Eppie had been right to ask about him being home on his own. His legs had clearly worked on autopilot, but surely once he’d had a decent sleep he’d be back to normal. He propped himself up on the sofa, with several pillows behind him in the hope that it would be high enough to prevent a coughing fit but comfortable enough to sleep, and covered himself with a blanket. 

Jude couldn’t honestly say he was surprised to get a message, but he’d expected it to be from Eden saying that he was home. Not from Eppie. 

_‘Hi Jude, saw Eden in class this morning, I’m really worried about him, he sounded awful. Are you going home at lunch to check on him? If not, I might – I’m really worried about him.x’_

Jude stared down at his phone he was hiding underneath the desk. The lecture he was in now would finish at about 12 and he didn’t have his tutorial group til 1; he had been planning to just hang around and eat his lunch at the union, but he could run home to check on Eden if it would assuage all their fears. 

_‘I’ll check on him at lunch. I’ll let you know.’_ He assured Eppie via text. 

Jude could hear the coughing as soon as he opened the front door of their flat, he dropped his bag at the door and headed to the living room where the coughing seemed to be coming from. Eden was semi-upright, his eyes shut and his face pale as he coughed.

“Eden?” Jude asked, but Eden was coughing too much to reply. He opened his eyes and Jude was worried at how listless he seemed. 

“M-fine,” Eden mumbled blearily, coughing so hard that it almost turned into a retch. “M-fine.” He repeated, and Jude suddenly got the impression that Eden wasn’t aware he was there. 

“Eden?” Jude bent down next to him, that close to him Jude could hear a rattling wheeze as he breathed in. “Eden?” Jude planted his hand on Eden’s forehead, his heart beginning to race when Eden didn’t respond to his touch, and felt the clammy warmth of his skin. “Eden? Can you tell me how you feel?”

“M-fine…” This was all that Eden seemed to be able to say. 

“Like hell you are…” Jude muttered as Eden started to cough again, the harsh wet sound going deep into his lungs. It suddenly sounded like Eden was about to bring up his lung, and from the way his throat was moving it looked like he might just do that. Eden gagged roughly, thinking quickly Jude grabbed the rubbish bin and placed it on Eden’s lap, putting his hand on his back and supporting him forward. A thick lump of mucus dripped from Eden’s mouth into the bin and Jude felt his stomach lurch as he saw blood in what Eden had coughed up. 

In his panic he puled out his phone, he couldn’t warrant phoning an ambulance, but he could call the number for medical non-emergencies. Eden had started coughing again, by the time Jude was connected through to an operator who asked what the problem was. 

“It’s my friend,” Jude gushed, his hand still on Eden’s back. “He’s been taking antibiotics for a chest infection, but I’ve just found him and he’s not responding to me and he’s coughing up something that looks like blood…” Over the phone she was asking questions that Jude was struggling to answer while supporting Eden. 

“What does his breathing sound like?” The person on the phone asked and Jude felt like cursing at her. 

“He’s wheezing,” Jude said, “it sounds like a rattle…” Eden was regaining consciousness, managing to wheeze out:

“Chest… hurts…” He struggled to inhale, “Feels like – can’t breathe…” Jude relayed this with increasing terror, hearing the voice at the end of the phone assuring him that they were sending an ambulance out to them and it would be there shortly. 

“Help’s coming,” Jude said, hanging up the phone and holding onto Eden’s shoulders, “it’s on its way…” But Eden had given a choked wheeze and his head slumped forwards, unconscious. 

As the fuzzy blackness began to lift from his head Eden realised that he was lying flat, but the urge to cough wasn’t so strong that it consumed him. The sensation of compressing bands around his chest that he’d struggled to breath against had faded; he still felt exhausted. There was something on his face, with his eyes closed he reached his hand up to his face to brush away whatever it was. His hand came into contact with something plastic, then he heard Jude’s voice:

“No Eden, you need to keep it on.” He felt Jude’s hand take hold of his own, moving it away from his face. It took Eden a lot of effort to open his eyes, but when he did he could see Jude’s face which was almost as white as the ceiling and lights around him. The thing on his face was an oxygen mask.

“Jude?” The words were heavy and hard to get out. “What happened?” 

“Ssssh…” Jude gripped Eden’s hand and squeezed, leaning at the edge of the bed. “You’re in hospital.” Eden took a moment to process this. 

“Why?”

“Why?!” Jude gave a weak chuckle. “You’ve got pneumonia you idiot. Not just your run of the mill chest infection.”

“Oh…” Eden wondered if that was why he felt so utterly worn out and sore.

“They’re going to keep you in until your oxygen levels have picked up, and they’re giving you industrial strength antibiotics to fight off the infection.” Jude explained, his eyes searching Eden’s face; he looked terrified. 

“Are you okay?” Eden asked, relaxing into the bedcovers now he knew what was going on. 

“You scared me Eden,” Jude whispered honestly. “Don’t ever do that to me again.”

“I’ll try not to…” Eden squeezed Jude’s hand back, his eyes felt so heavy that he was struggling to keep them open. “Sorry, I think… tired.”

“You sleep now,” Jude said, “and get better.” Eden closed his eyes, and as he drifted off to sleep he was sure he could feel Jude’s fingers stroking his forehead. 


End file.
